Saturday, October 10, 2015 — A Pair of Kings

Introduction

I see from the comments that there seems to be a clear consensus that today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is not overly difficult.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - yet to be solved

Legend:	"*" anagram; "~" sounds like; "<" letters reversed
	"( )" letters inserted; "_" letters deleted; "†" explicit in the clue
	Primary indications (definitions) are marked with a solid underline in the clue; subsidiary indications (be they wordplay or other) are marked with a dashed underline in all-in-one (& lit.) clues, semi-all-in-one (semi-& lit.) clues and cryptic definitions. Explicit link words and phrases are enclosed in forward slashes (/link/) and implicit links are shown as double forward slashes (//).

Across

1a   Author of “The Raven,” by quirk // of verse (6)

POE|TIC — POE (author of “The Raven”) + (by) TIC (quirk)

Edgar Allan Poe^[5] (1809–1849) was an American short-story writer, poet, and critic. His fiction and poetry are Gothic in style and characterized by their exploration of the macabre and the grotesque. Notable works: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (short story, 1840); ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ (detective story, 1841); ‘The Raven’ (poem, 1845).

4a   Mao, for one, // mixed up in a march (8)

CHAIRMAN* — anagram (mixed up) of IN A MARCH

Mao Zedong^[5] (also Mao Tse-tung and commonly referred to as simply Mao) (1893–1976) was a Chinese statesman; chairman of the Communist Party of the Chinese People’s Republic 1949–76; head of state 1949–59. A cofounder of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 and its effective leader from the time of the Long March (1934–35), he eventually defeated both the occupying Japanese and rival Kuomintang nationalist forces to create the People’s Republic of China in 1949, becoming its first head of state.

9a   Sylvester Stallone catching bass // deliberately (6)

S(LOW)LY — SLY (Sylvester Stallone) containing (catching) LOW (bass; describing a sound)

Sylvester "Sly" Stallone^[7] is an American actor best known for his portrayal of the characters boxer Rocky Balboa and soldier John Rambo.

10a   Jerks // set off about crone (8)

T(WITCH)ES — anagram (off) of SET containing (about) WITCH (crone)

11a   Change outside of Mom/’s/ old school (4,5)

AL(MA MA)TER — ALTER (change) containing (outside of) MAMA (Mom)

13a   Place to see athletes // running through bare naked (5)

_ARE|NA_ — hidden in (running through) bARE NAked

14a   Women who clean // Los Angeles strips (11)

LA|UNDRESSES — LA (Los Angeles) + UNDRESSES (strips)

18a   Novel // lover is twit, sadly (6,5)

{OLIVER TWIST}* — anagram (sadly) of LOVER IS TWIT

Oliver Twist^[7], subtitled The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870), published in 1838. The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse.

21a   Tournament winner /is/ hot in training site (5)

C(H)AMP — H (hot) contained in (in) CAMP (training site)

22a   Changed to tiny new // number (6-3)

{NINETY-TWO}* — anagram (changed) of TO TINY NEW

24a   Missile in // news brief (8)

BULLET|IN — BULLET (missile) + IN (†)

25a   Void surrounding a // yearbook (6)

ANNU(A)L — ANNUL (void; as a verb) containing (surrounding) A (†)

26a   Game plan: // get back into dogcatcher’s pickup (8)

STRA(TEG<)Y — reversal (back) of GET contained in (into) STRAY (dogcatcher's pickup)

27a   Directed // beat badly (6)

ROUTED — double definition

Down

1d   Polly obtains street address initially // through a delivery service (8)

PO(ST|A)LLY — POLLY (†) containing (obtains) {ST (street; abbrev.) + A (address initially; initial letter of Address)}

2d   Big // men—or mouse, in part (8)

_EN|OR|MOUS_ — hidden in (in part) mEN OR MOUSe

3d   I harshly criticize // one of the world’s leading faiths (5)

I|SLAM — I (†) + SLAM (harshly criticize)

5d   Shock jock/’s/ sworn hatred disturbed (6,5)

{HOWARD STERN}* — anagram (disturbed) of SWORN HATRED

Howard Stern^[7] is an American radio and television personality, producer, author, actor, and photographer. He is known for his long-running radio show The Howard Stern Show, which has aired on Sirius XM Radio since January 2006. He became the most fined radio host when the Federal Communications Commission issued fines totaling $2.5 million to station licensees for content it deemed indecent. Stern became one of the highest paid radio figures after signing a five-year deal with Sirius in 2004 worth $500 million.

Stern describes himself as "King of All Media" for his successes outside radio. He has hosted and produced numerous late night television shows, pay-per-view events, and home videos. His two books, Private Parts (1993) and Miss America (1995), entered the The New York Times Best Seller list at number one with each selling over one million copies. The former was made into a biographical comedy film in 1997 that had Stern and his radio show staff play as themselves which topped the US box office in its opening week and grossed $41.2 million domestically. Stern performs on its soundtrack which charted at number one on the Billboard 200 and earned a Platinum certification for selling one million copies.

6d   Strangely, train isn’t // on the way (2,7)

{IN TRANSIT}* — anagram (strangely) of TRAIN ISNT

7d   Composer // reworked Harlem (6)

MAHLER* — anagram (reworked) of HARLEM

Harlem^[7] is a symphonic jazz composition by the American composer Duke Ellington.

Gustav Mahler^[5] (1860–1911) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and pianist. Forming a link between romanticism and the experimentalism of Schoenberg, his works include nine complete symphonies (1888–1910) and the symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde (1908).

8d   Racing circuit // given, ultimately, “A” mark (6)

N|A|SCAR — N {given ultimately; final (ultimate) letter of giveN} + A (†) + SCAR (mark)

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR)^[7] is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto-racing sports events. NASCAR is motorsport's preeminent stock-car racing organization, sanctioning over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 39 of the 50 US states as well as in Canada.

NASCAR is second to the National Football League among professional sports franchises in terms of television ratings in the United States. Internationally, its races are broadcast in over 150 countries. In 2004, NASCAR's Director of Security stated that NASCAR holds 17 of the top 20 regularly attended single-day sporting events in the world.

12d   Disney movie // nothing like Nuts (3,4,4)

{THE LION KING}* — anagram (nuts) of NOTHING LIKE

The Lion King^[7] is a 1994 American animated epic musical film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures.

The Lion King tells the story of Simba, a young lion who is to succeed his father, Mufasa, as king; however, after Simba's uncle Scar murders Mufasa, Simba is manipulated into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile in shame and despair. Upon maturation living with two wastrels, Simba is given some valuable perspective from his childhood friend, Nala, and his shaman, Rafiki, before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny.

Scratching the Surface

Nuts is a 1987 American drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Barbra Streisand and Richard Dreyfuss. The screenplay by Tom Topor, Darryl Ponicsan, and Alvin Sargent is based on Topor's 1979 play of the same title. In the film, when call girl Claudia Draper kills a client in self-defense, her mother and stepfather attempt to have her declared mentally incompetent in order to avoid a public scandal. Realizing if her parents succeed she will be remanded to a psychiatric facility for an indefinite period of time, strong-willed Claudia is determined to prove she is sane enough to stand trial. The attorney her parents hire to defend her quits after Claudia assaults him, so the court appoints public defender Aaron Levinsky to handle her case. She resists him as well until she finally accepts that he is on her side. Aaron begins to probe her background to determine how the seemingly pampered child of supposedly model upper-middle-class parents could find herself in this situation, and with each piece of her past he uncovers he receives additional disturbing insight into what brought Claudia to this crossroads in her life. He discovers that she was sexually abused frequently by her stepfather as a young girl.

15d   Doorstep I repaired // sagging the most (9)

DROOPIEST* — anagram (repaired) of DOORSTEP I

16d   Have little faith in // fog and corrosion (8)

MIST|RUST — MIST (fog) + (and) RUST (corrosion)

17d   Saint threw the dice /and/ went for a walk (8)

ST|ROLLED — ST (Saint; abbrev.) + ROLLED (threw the dice)

19d   Small Caribbean island’s // diving gear (6)

S|CUBA|S — S (small; abbrev.) + CUBA (Caribbean island) + S ('s)

I don't believe that I have ever heard the term scuba used as a noun, only as an adjective (scuba gear, scuba diving).

20d   Middle-distance runner holding a // large envelope (6)

M(A)ILER — MILER (middle distance runner) containing (holding) A (†)

23d   Kick at the end of disco // dance (5)

TANG|O — TANG (kick) + (at; beside) O (the end [final letter] of discO)

The tango^[5] is a ballroom dance originating in Buenos Aires, characterized by marked rhythms and postures and abrupt pauses.

Epilogue

The title of today's review was inspired by 12d (The King of the Jungle) and 5d (the self-proclaimed "King of All Media").

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon